Monday Double for Tautalafua
May 09, 2016 | Softball
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SAN FRANCISCO - Nearly identical line scores helped Brianna Tautalafua pick up a pair of Pac-12 Conference awards on Monday, earning Player and Freshman of the Week honors.
Tautalafua ended her first regular season on a high note, going 4-for-7 (.571) with two home runs and eight RBI in a two-game sweep at #25 Utah. On Friday, the freshman went 2-for-4 with a homer and four runs batted in, posting an RBI single in the second inning before belting a three-run homer in the fifth to help the Bruins mercy the Utes, 15-7. Tautalafua would go 2-for-3 with a homer and four RBI an evening later, notching her RBI in the same way as Friday with an RBI single in the second and a three-run homer in the fifth, as UCLA won 8-0 in six innings. Tautalafua is batting .299 with seven home runs and 21 runs batted in.
Monday's awards are the second and third of Tautalafua's career after being named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week on April 4. UCLA earned its sixth and seventh weekly honors and its fourth conference Player of the Week. Senior Mysha Sataraka earned the award last Monday (May 2), as have junior Delaney Spaulding (March 14) and sophomore Kylee Perez (Feb. 23), while redshirt junior Paige McDuffee was Pitcher of the Week on April 4. UCLA has won 78 Pac-10/12 Player of the Week awards and two Freshman of the Week honors in just the second year the award has been bestowed.
The 13th-ranked Bruins, who had their regular-season finale at #25 Utah rained out on Sunday, have their Pac-12 bye this week and closed the regular season with a 35-13-1 overall record and a 16-5-1 mark in conference action. The Bruins find out where their postseason journey begins on Sunday at 7 p.m. when ESPNU airs the NCAA Selection Show.
